A super drug that could remove Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症)，heart disease and diabetes (糖尿病) and help people live to 100 is being developed by scientists. Their research is based on the identification of three genes that help prolong lives and prevent diseases which occur in old age. Medically controlling the proteins made by the “ longevity genes” will allow millions to live longer, predicts Dr Nir Barzilai.
Those whose DNA strongly features the three genes are 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The genes also fight against the deadly impact of smoking, poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise.
Already, several laboratories are working on a pill to imitate the benefits of the genes and Dr Barzilai thinks it could be tested within three years. The pill could remove some diseases that damage old age. “ The advantage of finding a gene that involves longevity is that we can develop a drug that will imitate exactly what this gene is doing,” he said.
Of the three longevity genes, two genes increase the production of so-called good cholesterol(胆固醇), which reduces the risk of heart disease. The third prevents diabetes. They were discovered by Dr Barzilai’s team while studying the DNA of 500 Ashkenazi Jews with an average age of 100. The chances of living that long are one in 10,000 but the group, which shared relatively few common ancestors, was 20 times more likely to hit the entury. Dr Barzilai said: “ 30 percent of them were obese or overweight and 30 percent smoked two acks of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years, however they can live to 100.”
But Andrew Ketteringham of the Alzheimer’s Society said: “Alzheimer’s disease, a most common disease, is likely to be caused by a combination of genetic disosition(遗传倾向), lifestyles and life events. Many genes are probably involved. Some people are able to live to 100 years because of ______.
| A．a magical medicine | B．three special genes | C．good living habits | D．longevity proteins |
Why does the discovery of the longevity genes mean a lot?
| A．Because it can bring great benefits to scientific labs. |
| B．Because it can help people change their unhealthy genes |
| C．Because it helps produce a drug that can make people live longer. |
| D．Because it will help scientists build up a new branch of biology. |
From Paragraph 4 we can infer that ________.
| A．longevity genes can create good cholesterol. |
| B．the volunteers share some common ancestors |
| C．bad habits are likely to have no effect on the volunteers |
| D．longevity genes protect the volunteers against bad habits |
What is Andrew Ketteringham’s attitude toward the study?
| A．Positive | B．Negative | C．Critical | D．Cautious |
Gyber language is popular among Chinese netizens, who create English words to reflect novel phenomenon in society.
"Gelivable", combining pinyin of Chinese characters Geili (giving strength) with the English suffix for adjectives, literally means "giving power" or "cool". Similarly, "Hengelivable" means "very cool", and "ungelivable" means "dull, not cool at all". "Antizen" referred to the group of college graduates who, earning a meager salary and living in small rented apartments, are like the tiny and laborious ants.
David Tool, a professor with the Beijing International Studies University said it’s very interesting to combine Chinese with English to create new words. “English is no longer mysterious to the Chinese people. They can use the language in a flexible way according to their own experiences,” he said. Chinese words and expressions were created, as well, by netizens. One example was “Suan Ni Hen”. This three-charessions were created, as well, by netizens. One example was “Suan Ni Hen”. This three-character expression, which originally meant “you win” with the first character carrying the same pronunciation as garlic in Chinese, is used to satirize（讽刺）high garlic and food prices this winter.
Chinese people use the character “bei” before a verb to show a passive voice, and it is used by netizens to show the helplessness in front of false conclusions and fake media reports. For instance, “zisha” means “suicide” while “beizisha” means “be officially presumed to have committed suicide”, and xiaokang means “fairly comfortable life” while “beixiaokang” means “be said to be living a fairly comfortable life”.
Wu Zhongmin, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, saw the phenomenon of word creation as a natural response of young people to social issues. “Cyber language is more vivid and it shortens people’s distances,” he said.The passage mainly tells us that.
| A．cyber language is popular among all people |
| B．cyber language is of great fun |
| C．cyber language needs to be taught at coolege |
| D．cyber language in China is popular for it’s relation with society |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Ungeilivable means “dull, not cool at all”. |
| B．Antizens live in small rented apartments with small salaries. |
| C．Suan Ni Hen refers to the highest food prices ever. |
| D．Beixiaokang means “be said” to be living a comfortable life. |
What can we infer from the phenomenon of word creation?
| A．It’s getting more difficult to understand cyber language. |
| B．Young people are more likely to respond to nature. |
| C．Social phenomena are more easily reflected in cyber language. |
| D．The best way to create new cyber words is to combine Chinese and English. |
Chinese netizens created English words by.
| A．combining pinyin of Chinese characters with the English suffix |
| B．using the character carrying the same pronunciaton |
| C．combining Chinese characters with the English |
| D．putting the character “bei” before an English word |
One girl decided to study judo（柔道）although she had lost her left arm in a car accident.
The girl began lessons with an old Japanese judo instructor. The girl was doing well. So she couldn’t understand why, after three months of training, the instructor had taught her only one move.
“Instructor,” the girl finally said, “Shuldn’t I be learning more moves?”
“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the instructor replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in her teacher, the girl kept training.
Several months later, the instructor took the girl to her first tournament. Surprising herself, the girl easily won her first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, her opponent became impatient and charged. The girl skillfully used her one move to win the match. Still amazed by her success, the girl was now in the finals.
This time, her opponent was bigger, stronger and more experienced. For a while, the girl appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the girl might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. She was about to stop the match when the instructor intervened（干预）.
“No,” the instructor insisted, “Let her continue.”
Soon after the match restarted, her opponent made a serious mistake; she dropped her guard. Instantly, the girl used her move to pin her opponent. The girl had won the match and the tournament. She was the champion.
One the way home, the girl and her teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the girl gathered the courage to ask what was really on her mind.
“Instructor, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”
“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your Left arm.”
The girl’s biggest weakness had become her biggest strength.What can we learn about the girl?
| A．She was disabled in an accident. | B．She disliked judo training. |
| C．She learnt several moves. | D．She won the first two matches hard. |
The underlined word “overmatched” probably means.
| A．impatient | B．depressed | C．defeated | D．trapped |
The girl won the championship because of.
| A．her bravery | B．her skills | C．her tricks | D．her strength |
Which of the following is probably the best title of the story?
| A．The Story of a Girl. | B．A Disabled Girl. |
| C．Defense Matters. | D．Weakness Becomes Strengh. |
Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density(密度)”，said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanreal systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure(晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”
Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?
| A．He teaches chemistry at MU. |
| B．He developed a chemical battery. |
| C．He is working on a nuclear energy source. |
| D．He made a breakthrough in computer engineering. |
Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4_________.
| A．to show chemical batteries are widely applied. |
| B．to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used. |
| C．to describe a nuclear-powered system. |
| D．to introduce various energy sources. |
Liquid semiconductor is used to _________.
| A．get rid of the radioactive waste | B．test the power of nuclear batteries. |
| C．decrease the size of nuclear batteries | D．reduce the damage to lattice structure. |
According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery _______.
| A．uses a solid semiconductor | B．will soon replace the present ones. |
| C．could be extremely thin | D．has passed the final test. |
The text is most probably a ________.
| A．science news report | B．book review |
| C．newspaper ad | D．science fiction story |
How to improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They'll say, "This is my destiny(命运).I cannot change it."
Of course not! You don't have to suffer needlessly. Your life depends on you, not on any other external(外部的)factor.
I know a woman who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, and then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls "doing her best"? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that has been intended for her and that her luck can only change if God wills it. She hasn't realized that we have to do our share of making the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you harvest what you sow. You have to get off the sofa, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone(unless it contributes to your success),and get your mind and body to work! Don't expect your luck to change, unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don't just regard it as a temporary setback; instead, learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It's not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone's life is in trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don't just stand(or sit)there, do something to improve your life.According to the woman mentioned in Para. 3, her life_________________.
| A．doesn't need improving | B．couldn't be improved |
| C．will be better some day | D．will be worse in the future |
What does the author think of the woman's life?
| A．Positive | B．Passive | C．Colorful | D．Disturbing |
Which of the following statements is the author's opinion?
| A．Your temporary problem is not discouraging. |
| B．Your luck can be changed by your own efforts. |
| C．You can only achieve success when God wills it. |
| D．You should treat yourself in the way you treat friends. |
In Para. 5, the author emphasized the importance of _______________.
| A．positive thinking | B．positive action |
| C．hope for the best | D．intention to succeed |
The text is mainly written to advise you to _________________.
| A．understand yourself | B．improve your life |
| C．believe in yourself | D．change your normal way |
Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad makes people less gullible（轻信的）, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory.
The study, authored by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, showed that people in a negative mood were more critical of, and paid more attention to, their surroundings than happier people, who were more likely to believe anything they were told.
"Although positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger（引发）more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world," Forgas wrote.
"Our research suggests that sadness … promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations."
For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing happy or sad moods in their subjects through watching films and recalling positive or negative events.
In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumors and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements.
People in a bad mood were also less likely to make snap decisions based on racial or religious prejudices, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed.
The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style."
"Positive mood is not universally desirable: people in a negative mood are less prone to judgmental errors, are more resistant to eyewitness distortions（扭曲）and are better at producing high-quality, effective persuasive messages," Forgas wrote.
The study was published in the November/December edition of the Australian Science journal. The study suggests that when someone is in a bad mood, he ________.
| A．cares more about his surroundings | B．shows less concern about others |
| C．is willing to believe what he hears | D．is particular about everything |
Which of the following is connected with positive mood?
| A．Being careful. | B．New ideas. |
| C．Being stubborn. | D．Concentration. |
How did the researchers put the subjects in good or bad moods?
| A．By watching sports programs. |
| B．By thinking back on their past experience. |
| C．By listening to happy or sad stories. |
| D．By dealing with demanding situations. |
Which of the following statements is TURE according to the text?
| A．Positive mood contributes to better judgment. |
| B．Cheerful people were less likely to believe rumors. |
| C．People in a bad mood tend to make quick decisions. |
| D．Sad people remembered what they saw precisely. |
The author intends to convince us that __________.
| A．we should think positively and negatively |
| B．the Australian study is of practical value |
| C．Joseph Forgas made a great discovery |
| D．bad moods can actually be good for us |